Libya in flames: Qaddafi wages war on protesters, son vows to fight “until the last bullet”

posted at 7:20 pm on February 20, 2011 by Allahpundit

The war metaphor in the headline is no metaphor: Tanks, snipers, artillery, and helicopter gunships are being used against protesters in Benghazi, where more than 200 have already been shot dead. According to a journalist there, women were seen jumping off a bridge with their children as a last resort when Qaddafi’s mercenaries advanced on them. Another report claims that soldiers opened fire on mourners participating in a funeral procession. The stories I read as recently as Friday night claimed that the Libyan demonstrations wouldn’t amount to much because, for one thing, they were contained thus far to provinces that have always been anti-Qaddafi and, for another thing, if push came to shove the military would simply start mowing people down. Two days later, neither of those arguments is still convincing. Street battles replete with gunfire have broken out in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and there are eyewitness accounts of some Libyan troops switching sides. Quote:

Earlier, members of a Libyan army unit told Benghazi residents they have defected and “liberated” the city from pro-Gaddafi forces.

Speaking from the city, a local man named Benali, told Sky News that members of the Libya’s armed forces have defected and that anti-regime protesters are now in control of the city.

Habib al-Obaidi, who heads the intensive care unit at the main Al-Jalae hospital, appeared to confirm the reports, saying the “Thunderbolt” squad arrived at the hospital with soldiers who had been injured in clashes with Gaddafi’s men.

“They are now saying that they have overpowered the Praetorian Guard and that they have joined the people’s revolt,” said Mr al-Obaidi.

So quickly has this ignited that, as I write this, there are rumors spreading on Twitter and being treated as semi-plausible by people in the know that Qaddafi’s already bugged out and left for Venezuela. There’s no evidence that it’s true — Libya’s essentially off-limits to media, so it’s impossible to tell facts from propaganda on either side — but the regime’s in enough trouble that Qaddafi’s son had to go on national TV within the last hour or so and vow, “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet.” Next stop: Civil war. Sides are already being chosen, in fact:

Late on Sunday, the country’s Warfala tribe, one of the largest among Libya’s population of 6.4 million, announced it was throwing its heft behind the protesters, suggesting momentum was tipping further against Mr. Gadhafi…

In the city of Bayda, east of Benghazi and close to Libya’s border with Egypt, witnesses said local police turned their guns on the army’s second brigade after it deployed inside the city and fired live ammunition at protesters. The local police’s flip forced the surprised army forces to withdraw to the airport on the city’s outskirts, according to witnesses…

“There are really no constraints at all on what Gadhafi can do and we’ve reached the point where a lot of peaceful protesters are starting to arm themselves to do battle,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher for Human Rights Watch following events in Libya.

A Libyan dissident answered Qaddafi Jr’s warning of a civil war this way: “He promised that the country would spiral into civil war for the next 30 to 40 years, that the country’s infrastructure would be ruined, hospitals and schools would no longer be functioning – but schools are already terrible, hospitals are already in bad condition.” After 42 years of fascism, poverty, and the weirdest totalitarian cult of personality this side of Kim Kong-il, there’s nothing left to lose. Read Michael Totten’s vivid account of visiting there a few years ago and see for yourself how hopeless the country’s become; even the “nicer” parts sound like rundown Havana, the less nice parts like Pyongyang.

There’s bound to be more news tomorrow, if not tonight, so stand by for updates. Exit quotation: “The United States is gravely concerned with disturbing reports and images coming out of Libya.”

Update: Another eyewitness account of Libya’s unimaginable squalor from Reason’s Michael Moynihan, who visited there last year as part of a junket paid for by Qaddafi’s allegedly reform-minded son Seif — the same son who just threatened civil war on Libyan television.

Libya ought to at least resemble a wealthy country, with its vast oil reserves and all those desperate politicians willing to do almost anything in exchange for access to them. Yet Tripoli is covered from end to end in garbage. Among the few benefits of living in a dictatorship, I had presumed, were that the trains run on time, crime is low, and armies of revolutionary trash collectors ensure that tourists tell their friends the country might not have elections but is at least exceptionally clean.

Remove the oil economy, and it isn’t entirely clear what Libyans do for money. The only shops I spot are selling either vegetables or cigarettes, sometimes both. There are markets trading in all manner of junk: old sewing machines, toilets, fake perfume (Hugo Boos seems particularly popular). The most frequently promoted product (aside from the ubiquitous face of Qaddafi staring down from countless billboards) is, inexplicably, corn oil. After decades of crippling trade sanctions under an aging and increasingly batty dictator, and with no tourism industry to speak of, Libya’s economy is a shambles. In their latest Index of Economic Freedom, the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal rank the country 171st out of 179, only slightly edging out the Union of the Comoros and the Democratic Republic of Congo…

Everything in this country is delayed or nonfunctioning, from the telephone in my hotel room to the 40-year-old political system. Libya doesn’t even have a functioning postal service—which might explain why the U.S. Postal Service charges almost $300 to ship a 10-pound package to the country. It will likely be easier to undo Libya’s fractured relationship with the West than it will be to undo four decades of domestic failure.

Update: More regime defections as Libya’s ambassadors to China and the Arab League resign in protest. Note that that news is being touted on Press TV, which is funded by Iran.

12:11 am: Libya’s ambassador to China, Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, has just resigned on air with Al Jazeera Arabic. He called on the army to intervene, and has called all diplomatic staff to resign.

He made claims about a gunfight between Gaddafi’s sons and also claimed that Gaddafi may have left Libya. Al Jazeera has no confirmation of these claims.

11:54 pm: Further reports suggest the 500,000-strong Tuareg tribe in south Libya has heeded the call from the million-strong Warfala tribe to join the uprising. Protesters in Ghat and Ubary, home to Libyan Tuareg clans are reportedly attacking government buildings and police stations.

11:25 pm Online reports claim remaining pro-Gaddafi militia in Benghazi, around the Elfedeel Bu Omar compound, “are being butchered by angry mobs”. It is impossible to verify the claims, though Al Jazeera has spoken with several people in the city who say protesters control the city, as security forces flee to the airport

There’s bound to be more news tomorrow, if not tonight, so stand by for updates. Exit quotation: “The United States is gravely concerned with disturbing reports and images coming out of Libya.”
****************

Me thinks,Hopey is perplexed,and if it was Ronald Reagan,
Libya would of been silenced in less than 24 hours!!!!!!!

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi,acknowledged in a nationally televised address that the army made mistakes during protests but warned that continued anti-government protests that have wracked the oil-rich nation for six days might lead to a civil war.
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Scores reported dead in new crackdown on protests
Scores of protesters were killed on Sunday after new clashes erupted between anti-regime protesters and security forces in the Libyan city of Benghazi amid reports that the unrest had made its way to the capital, Tripoli.(Video)
———————————————————

So quickly has this ignited that, as I write this, there are rumors spreading on Twitter and being treated as semi-plausible by people in the know that Qaddafi’s already bugged out and left for Venezuela.

The source for this rumor is an interview given by Husein Sadeq al Misurati, a diplomat in Libya’s Beijing embassy, to al-Jazeera. al-Arabiya has also reported the information. al-Misurati also said in the interview that Qaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Islam and Mutasim, are now engaged in a power struggle with one another. The Spanish and Colombian press have already started to run with the story. I wouldn’t be surprised if Venezuela took Qaddafi in – Chávez and he are as thick as thieves. Some reports have also mentioned Brazil as a possible destination, which also wouldn’t surprise me given the country’s present socialist government.

What is happening in the Middle East is what I think happened in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe.

A radical extremist world veiw (Communism) came into being. It pushed its veiwpoint all over the world. As a counter balance a radical extremist movement (Facism) rose to combat it. And the democracies sat on the sidelines and ignored the rise of both.This was the cause of WWII.

And now a radical extremist veiwpoint (Islamic totalitarianism) has risen to threaten the world. The people are afraid of its power. So they are trying to achieve Democracy to defend against it.

If democracy sits on the sidelines again we will see a counter movement that will be equally as violent as radical Islam.

What I don’t understand is why these tyrants have been allowed to hold power as long as they have? Have the people not known before now what an intolerable corrupt feckless rump this leader has been for decades?

World powers rounded on Libya Sunday as fears grew that hundreds of people had been killed in a brutal government crackdown on demonstrators demanding an end to Moamer Kadhafi’s 41-year, ironclad rule.

As the protests crept nearer the Libyan capital Tripoli, the turbulence shaking the Arab world following the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia also spread to Morocco, where thousands rallied for change across the country.

Probably Sudani mercenaries. Libya has ties with Sudan and has assisted them in the past. They may be those ever fun Janjaweed we know so well from Sudan. From the one video I saw of three dead mercenaries they were clearly African and not Arab.

What I don’t understand is why these tyrants have been allowed to hold power as long as they have? Have the people not known before now what an intolerable corrupt feckless rump this leader has been for decades?

scalleywag on February 20, 2011 at 7:44 PM

Food shortages worldwide have sparked underlying tensions. That good old Ethanol subsidy doing its part to destabilize the world.

Next stop: Civil war. Sides are already being chosen, in fact:
Late on Sunday, the country’s Warfala Union tribe, one of the largest among Libya’s USA’s Union population of 6.4 million, announced it was throwing its heft behind the protestersDemocratic Politicians, suggesting momentum was tipping further against Mr. GadhafiThe American People…

What I don’t understand is why these tyrants have been allowed to hold power as long as they have? Have the people not known before now what an intolerable corrupt feckless rump this leader has been for decades?

scalleywag on February 20, 2011 at 7:44 PM

The internet has changed everything. People can get info that they could never get any other way. People have found that they can find others who agree that their leaders suck no matter how hard the media tells them they dont

Gird your loins fellas. It has begun. It shall only worsen. All of the assumptions you have held until this point are now changing. That is, this stuff could never happen here. Well, the world is getting awfully small these days.

Amir Taheri saw this coming a few days ago. Safe to say he’s ahead of the smart power crowd.

Yet Khadafy may be vulnerable for a number of reasons. He has lost the support of Egyptian and Tunisian secret services, and can no longer count on Tunisian Special Forces coming to rescue him from a tight corner.

The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, and the apparent retreat of the Algerian regime in the face of the opposition, leave Libya as the only totally dark patch on the map of North Africa.

Buoyed by what they believe is a pan-Arab revolutionary wind of change, Libyan opposition forces appear united as never before. Sufi fraternities, professional associations, cultural clubs and even informal circles of retired army officers seem to be coming together to “do something.”

“Khadafy’s system is like a spider’s web,” one of the despot’s former ministers, who broke with him in the 1990s, tells me. “It could be torn apart by the slightest wind.”

However, Khadafy might prove a tougher nut to crack. Unlike the Tunisian and Egyptian despots, he has huge sums of money to play with. With a population of less than 5 million, Libya earns around $50 billion from oil exports. Khadafy can throw money at many of his problems, especially in the neglected eastern part of the country.

What I don’t understand is why these tyrants have been allowed to hold power as long as they have? Have the people not known before now what an intolerable corrupt feckless rump this leader has been for decades?

scalleywag on February 20, 2011 at 7:44 PM
The internet has changed everything. People can get info that they could never get any other way. People have found that they can find others who agree that their leaders suck no matter how hard the media tells them they dont

I do believe that I had 2 years in the office pool where international events leaves Barry hiding under the Oval Office desk.
Hey, hows that oil drilling moratorium looking right about now? Dear Leader may get his 5 dollar gas- and a single term.

“– but schools are already terrible, hospitals are already in bad condition.” After 42 years of fascism, poverty, and the weirdest totalitarian cult of personality this side of Kim Kong-il, there’s nothing left to lose.”

“Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.” -Orwell

“– but schools are already terrible, hospitals are already in bad condition.” After 42 years of fascism, poverty, and the weirdest totalitarian cult of personality this side of Kim Kong-il, there’s nothing left to lose.”

Obowma…

“So what’s your point?”

Seven Percent Solution on February 20, 2011 at 8:02 PM

Exactly! The vaunted gap between rich and poor in Libya is very small, health care is free, and college is free. Sounds like a prog paradise to me!

Gird your loins fellas. It has begun. It shall only worsen. All of the assumptions you have held until this point are now changing. That is, this stuff could never happen here. Well, the world is getting awfully small these days.

Your last point press being touted by Iranians is interesting. Although Gadaffi is religious he hates the Muslim Brotherhood and has put an Iman in jail for worry of stirring the pot. Iran would love to have the MB in control in Libya with all the oil in hand. I would be very suspicious of news reports. Hard to believe the West would allow the MB/Iraninan(dinner Jacket) in control of Libya.

I really couldn’t care less whether Libya is run by dictatorial muslims or muslim dictators, but the one bright spot to look forward to is youtubes of K’Daffy’s Amazonian bodyguards fighting off the hordes until the last bullet.

“11:54 pm: Further reports suggest the 500,000-strong Tuareg tribe in south Libya has heeded the call from the million-strong Warfala tribe to join the uprising. Protesters in Ghat and Ubary, home to Libyan Tuareg clans are reportedly attacking government buildings and police stations.”

William Amos on February 20, 2011 at 7:30 PM

“The scorpion and the Tuareg are the only enemies you meet in the desert”

LIBYA was elected overnight to the United Nations Human Rights Council despite numerous complaints that the country was unfit to serve on the international rights body… But the appeal fell on deaf ears, and a General Assembly secret ballot produced 155 votes in favor of adding Libya to the council, significantly more than the 97 votes needed.

What I don’t understand is why these tyrants have been allowed to hold power as long as they have? Have the people not known before now what an intolerable corrupt feckless rump this leader has been for decades?

scalleywag on February 20, 2011 at 7:44 PM

Beats me! Look at Castro. On another site I started an unofficial pool in which we guessed when he would (finally) depart…man, I think that was like four years ago or something.

All of the unruly kids of the world know that there is a substitute teacher in the White House.

Dr. Carlo Lombardi on February 20, 2011 at 8:22 PM

Not that I think we should be directly involved, but I believe a President McCain would have been all over this politically and diplomatically speaking.

I get the impression that the WH works off of a mad-libs sheet when issuing statements. “The United States is gravely concerned with disturbing reports and images coming out of _________.”

ThePrez on February 20, 2011 at 7:38 PM

Mad Libs entertained the rwb family on many a road trip! You are spot-on about the WH using them to issue statements. I think they’re also using a Ouija board and a Magic 8 Ball to determine our foreign policy. Frightening stuff.

the leaders of this country and Europe have been to bed with Qaddafi so many times we can’t really say too much. Reagan was the only one to call his bluff. Geez, Qaddafi bought his way into the human rights business with $10 million and I’ll never forget his being honored as a human rights activist. He got to where he was on a military coup and I don’t think he’ll go easily. But if the army abandons him things might change.

If anything but total Islamist control of the Middle East comes out of all this, I’ve got a hundred bucks that says within one year we hear some Libtard talking head say it all happened because of Barry’s Cairo speech and he’s the Johnny Appleseed of Democracy or something. Another hundred says it’s Matthews.

LIBYA was elected overnight to the United Nations Human Rights Council despite numerous complaints that the country was unfit to serve on the international rights body… But the appeal fell on deaf ears, and a General Assembly secret ballot produced 155 votes in favor of adding Libya to the council, significantly more than the 97 votes needed.

William Amos on February 20, 2011 at 8:24 PM

William Amos:

Thats what the whole F”k problem is,as soon as Team Change
got into power,mixed messages/signals were running rampant
from the WH!

What makes you think this dictatorial strongman is going anywhere? Revolution isn’t hard to suppress when you’re willing to kill enough people.

MJBrutus on February 20, 2011 at 7:41 PM

3 reasons:

1) Whenever a parallel gang of thugs see weakness, they seize on it.

2) Bribing Moamar’s “allies” behind the scenes to turn coats has likely commenced… as as all of these lesser Libyan scum recognize a fresh chance to plunder for their own coffers during the conveniently-sown chaos.

If anything but total Islamist control of the Middle East comes out of all this, I’ve got a hundred bucks that says within one year we hear some Libtard talking head say it all happened because of Barry’s Cairo speech and he’s the Johnny Appleseed of Democracy or something. Another hundred says it’s Matthews.